Once More
by Nyaa-Neko
Summary: After a tragic accident in Washu's lab, Ryoko dies. However, she does not die completely, and is reincarnated in the form of a kitten, named Ame, to live once more in the Masaki household. But will her family ever realize who Ame is? Hiatus, sorry.
1. What Have I Done?

Once More

Chapter 1-What have I done?

"No! Don't leave me here, Mommy!" Ryoko cried hoarsely, in a futile attempt to be free. "Please come back for me!"

Ryoko sniffed. All anger had been lifted by fear and awful memories. She'd give Washu anything for her to come back. If Washu wanted her to sob into her shoulder while the minute mother would comfort her, she'd do it, as long as she'd be free. The lab resembled the cave, and it was dark, cold, and lonely. No Tenchi was there to cheer her up, brighten her day, or make her see the light. There was no light, no way for her to make an astral body to project outside. Ryoko would give anything just to see another human being, anything to not be all alone to drown in her fears.

"Please, Mommy! I promise to be good! I'll do whatever you say!" This worked sometimes with Kagato. Promise to do whatever they want, and they'll take advantage of that, only costing them a small price of letting her out of the dark and the cold, lifting the pain, whatever. Why wasn't Washu agreeing to this? "Mommy!"

Why couldn't somebody come back for her? She'd been tied up here for so long, and she was beginning to loose all feeling in her legs. The restraints were cold, and squeezed too tightly, and her throat had become dry from screaming and breathing in and out through it, causing it to burn when she swallowed or made a vocal sound.

_Please, Mommy? Where are you?_ Ryoko asked, trying a new approach of using the link. _I don't like the dark, it's scary. Please let me out! I'm so lonely!_

No answer came from Washu. This wasn't surprising, since Washu hadn't been answering for the past...however long it had been. At least a few hours.

Ryoko sobbed, wanting somebody to come and comfort her. Where was everybody? "Mommy, please don't forget about me!"

A sound. Ryoko's head shot up, trying to figure out what it was.

"Mommy, is that you?" She'd called Washu "mommy" so many times; you'd have begun to think Washu was really Queen Misaki of Jurai, who insisted from her daughters' birth that they only refer to her as "mommy". If they would call her "mother" and in a normal, non-high pitched voice, the queen would begin to grow annoyed, and her facial expressions would definitely show it.

Crackle. It sounded like a crackle. A light! There was a light! Had Washu come back to let her out?

"Oh no." Ryoko whispered as what the new appearance really was dawned on her. The sound and the light had not come from a human, or anything alive. This was so much more deadly, especially as she was powerless to stop it or escape. Even worse, it was coming straight at her.

It was electricity.

A huge surge sunk into the machine, bolts zapping out of every circuit and wire in the entire contraption that held Ryoko captive. The ring became a burning circle, and the restraints started to malfunction, squeezing the arms of the already screaming woman.

The amount of pain Ryoko was in could not be described by words alone. Every nerve in her body was on fire, and what seemed like millions of volts surged through her body. Her hair had caught fire, and the fire licked her eyes, causing her screams to become louder still as her sense of sight was whipped away. The restraints suddenly whipped downwards, and let the woman go, but ripped open two large gashes in her arms. The fire alarms went on, water pouring down on the now useless and broken bunches of metal. Ryoko's hair stopped burning, but then again, she had no hair to burn anymore, as it all had become useless ash. The fire went out, but the smoke stayed, filling up Ryoko's lungs and causing her to cough, every movement on her body becoming a wave of pain. The smoke also would have burned her eyes, if only the fire hadn't blinded her and turned her eyes into a charred mess with no pain sensors.

The woman whimpered on the floor softly, white spots going up where her vision would be. Finding it harder and harder to think clearly, she focused on the floor...and the sound coming nearer and nearer.

A cry of anguish. Anguish, sadness, self-hatred. That's what was coming.

Weeping arms swept up Ryoko, hugging her pain racked, bloody, and burnt body.

"No! Ryoko, don't die! No! I didn't mean to-please!" Kagato? Was that who this was? No, Kagato was a man, and this was a woman's voice...Washu.

Ryoko groaned, feeling her energy slip away. She was dying, maybe an inch away from death. Her senses were going, her thoughts spinning around. Even though she felt tears fall on her burnt flesh and another's arms hug her she could barely feel them as she started to slip away. The killer of thousands, destroyer of planets, and overall demon woman finally brought down by her own grief-stricken mother.

"I love you too much! No...Ryoko..."

hr 

Washu couldn't bear to look anyone in the face. She'd just told them the truth as to why Mihoshi had suddenly found a mangled body similar to that of a missing beloved family member on the floor of her lab.

She felt Sasami run into her, sobbing.

"Oh Washu! Why did Ryoko have to..." The young princess sobbed, hiccupping slightly. A small drop of wetness dislodged itself from Washu's eyes, followed soon after by many, many more. Soon both adolescents were sobbing into each other.

The entire family was there, and Washu knew they're reactions. All were sad and shocked.

Sasami finally left Washu as the scientist let go, and she found her way to her older sister.

"It's all my fault...I can't believe it, it just started out as a sick joke. My poor Ryoko, my _Little_ Ryoko. I'm worse than him, making her do all those things. She never wanted to assimilate with Zero, I forced her into it. She probably never would have agreed to a 'check-up' if I hadn't..." Washu stopped blubbering when Tenchi gathered her into his teenage arms.

"It's not your fault, Washu. It really isn't." The small mother just stood there, crying her eyes out into Tenchi's shoulder. He knew what it was like to loose a mother, and he assumed the pain would be similar for a mother to lose their child. Washu had lost two.

Katsuhito, finally regaining composure, stood up, his head bowed in mourning. "We should give Ryoko a proper ceremony. The family burial grounds near the shrine would be perfect, for her to be buried with the family of the boy she loved." The sobbing Washu merely nodded, her arms tight around Tenchi, as if he was the last bit of Ryoko there was.

The next morning, the family was gathered around the grave for Ryoko. They had prayed for her soul to reach peace, and for her to have a happy afterlife compared to her painful mortal life. All were crying, and even Katsuhito shed a single tear for the pirate who he had kept in her fears of the dark, cold, and loneliness for seven centuries.

Ayeka, her arms around Sasami while she looked downward, her eyes overflowing with tears, felt the grief of losing a friend. The princess wished she had been able to see the other side of Ryoko more often, the side that could have been a good friend. Maybe even her best friend, because Ryoko acted as if the princess' title meant nothing. But she was gone, one of the only people to treat Ayeka like a regular person, gone. Her eyes glanced over at Washu, who was still in her child form, crying her heart out into Tenchi once more. She bowed her head, knowing the scientist was perhaps the one who had lost the most out of the woman's passing.

Katsuhito lit some incense, the smell one of Ryoko's favorites. Sasami looked up from Ayeka's sisterly embrace, just in time to see the smoke waft over the grave. Through it, she could almost see a small, bluish form rise out of the ground, but it quickly vanished with the wind. Shaking it off, Sasami prayed with her family for the final time in the ceremony, before all of the members started to slow descent back to the Masaki house.

Sasami still walked with Ayeka, wishing that Ryoko could have died happier.

_The gem..._

Sasami looked around, realizing no one else had heard the voice.

_Tsunami?_

_The gem was burned with the body...I cannot sense it...I know not of what will happen next._

Sasami nodded. Definitely Tsunami.

But, didn't Tsunami know everything?

**Author's Note:**

**Okay, all you people, here's a Ryoko-centered fic for you. I started writing this a while ago, and I think I completed the second and third chapters also (I just need to find/proofread/upload them), but they're old. So they aren't as good as they would be if I had written them recently (in my opinion). And just so you know, I do not plan on putting romance in this one, this is a no-romance fic. Aeka no Sekai, my other long-term Tenchi project, is something I write because I like the TenchiAeka, and since I can write it even if I have writer's block. This is because my favorite character is Ryoko. Yeah.**

**Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! does not belong to me. It belongs to Masaki Kajishima.**


	2. Rain

Chapter 2-Rain

A day had passed since Ryoko's burial ceremony. Mihoshi, sitting upright on the couch staring into the wall instead of lying on her side and asleep, was still feeling the grief. Her eyes wandered around the room, stopping at an empty shelf inside a small alcove near where the family ate. She'd cleared it off recently, moving the objects to other parts of the house. It seemed like it was in the center of the house, and easily accessed by anyone. However, this was before Ryoko had passed away in her mother's arms, and nobody knew what to do with the unused horizontal space. But at this very moment, Mihoshi was struck with a rare thought.

"A memorial." She whispered to herself. Raising a finger to her mouth, she chewed on it while she thought. A picture of Ryoko would be great, along with a couple of her favorite things. Like more pictures, of her and her family. Maybe a place to burn incense, or a vase to put her favorite flowers. The other family members would have more ideas, but how would she ask them? Would this help them with their pain, or just make it worse?

The blonde was jerked out of her thoughts slightly when she heard a sigh as another person entered the living room. Her aquamarine blue eyes shifted to look over at the sad body of a princess, mutely going to do the laundry. Again. For the fifteenth time since Ryoko's death. _I guess it's her way of taking her mind off of things._ Thought Mihoshi, raising an eyebrow during her few minutes of extreme (for her) pure intelligence. _Well, she seems like a person who'd help with this sort of thing. I guess maybe I could run my idea by her, see how well she takes it. It would be nice to easily see Ryoko around again, even just in pictures._

"Hey, Ayeka," Mihoshi started, seeing Ayeka's dark red eyes flit over to her as her voice broke into the silence the house had worn a lot recently. "I was thinking, you know, for over there-" She gestured to the alcove and its empty shelf. "We could put a, you know, memorial for Ryoko." The police officer sat very still, waiting for a reaction from the First Princess of the Jurai Royal Family.

Very slowly, and full of small little twitches, Ayeka's mouth moved into a small smile. "Yes, Mihoshi. That's a great idea. Tsunami knows I've done enough laundry already." Mihoshi sighed. Ayeka's voice was genuine, and not sarcastic at all.

"So, like pictures..."

"And incense..."

"And a place to offer food!" Both women's heads turned to the newcomer. The smaller princess was standing of the doorway of the kitchen, staring at them with eyes that depicted recent tears and hands clenched tightly around a ladle. She too had been incessantly doing a household activity like her sister, but in her case, it was cooking and not laundry.

Ayeka smiled softly. "That is a wonderful idea Sasami. Because even though Ryoko has left us physically, mentally, she will always be a part of our family and watch over us." She looked to Mihoshi, and then back to her sister. "We need to remember that. Mihoshi's idea will probably help."

"Let's see," Mihoshi began. "What pictures do we have?"

"Well, there's the one of her and all of us when the cherry blossoms were in bloom. Those were her favorite flowers." Ayeka noted. She glanced out the windows. "Isn't there a copy of that picture in the shrine office, along with others? I'm sure my half-brother would be willing to give us some for the memorial, along with any spare frames."

"May I go with Ryo-ohki, sister? You and Mihoshi can start to set it up here!" Sasami asked eagerly.

"Why not? We'll go through her things and photo albums here." Ayeka agreed, smiling to her sister. This idea really caused her, along with Sasami and Mihoshi, to feel better.

Sasami then raced out the door, wanting to help build the memorial. She raced up the long flight of stone steps to the shrine embedded into the mountainside, sometimes taking two at a time. Her breath was heavy as she stopped at the top of the stairway, pausing to look down at the house. Sasami's mind turned back to Ryoko, and how she could've just flown up those stairs in a minute or less, and the small goddess-infused princess tried her hardest not to cry for her lost friend.

"Miya..." Comforted Ryo-ohki. Sasami looked up.

"You're strong, Ryo-ohki. Stronger than me." She muttered, leaving the cabbit to figure out her words' meaning. With that, she spun on her heel, and walked over to the shrine office where Katsuhito was at that moment. After knocking, the old man came to the door, and nodded as he saw his younger half-sister.

"Ah, Sasami. How might I be of service to you today?" His hoarse voice spoke.

Sasami tried her best to smile. "Please, grandfather, do you have any pictures of Ryoko or frames to put them in? Ayeka, Mihoshi, and me are making a memor...thing to remember her by, and we were wondering if you had something to put in it." Her voice asked, threatening to break at various spots even though her tone was that of extreme enthusiasm.

The priest smiled, and walked over to his desk. "Come in, and I think I have some pictures for you." Sasami walked in, slipping out of her shoes to walk over to him.

"Ah!" He smiled as he pulled out a framed picture of the family surrounded by cherry blossoms. "How is this one? I also have one just of Ryoko, here you are." He handed the two framed pictures to Sasami, who looked at them sadly. "Little one, you must remember that Ryoko was never one to be sad. How would she like it if everybody were sad over her? I think Ryo-ohki realizes that." Sasami looked up at Katsuhito's ancient face as he stroked the spaceship's fur, smiled, and nodded.

"Yeah. She wouldn't want us to be sad for her."

"She'd want you to move on, not forgetting, but not living in the past. That was her final lesson for her to teach to all of us, and we must remember." Sasami nodded at his final words as she and the cabbit left.

Next to the shrine, Sasami looked up to see that the sky had clouded over. "Maybe it'll rain today. I'd better get down to the house soon." She started to walk quickly down the stone steps, careful not to trip and fall.

Plop. The blue-haired princess stopped, and looked down. A small drop of water had landed on the step directly below her. Plop, plop, plop. More drops fell, one hitting her hand.

Soon a downpour had started, Sasami caught in the middle of the stairs. She shivered, and then started to run down the steps, praying she wouldn't fall.

"Mew..."

"Huh?" The princess stopped running, Ryo-ohki and the pictures in her arms. Her blue-haired head turned to her left, where she saw something rustle in the small, woodland flora. "I-is somebody there?"

"Meow?" A questioning cry broke into the air, covered up immediately by the sound of falling raindrops. Sasami walked closer to the source of the sound, and cried out as she saw the pitiful creature below her.

A small grey kitten shivered under a leaf, its fur soaked and matted. Its eyes were closed, and its limbs and tail were tucked under it, save its front left leg, whose paw was a soft orange. Other than the discolored paw, the entire body was a cloudy silver-grey color. It cried out again, its head turning to the direction of the princess, before sneezing.

"Oh no! It could be sick!" Quickly adding the baby cat to her armful of things and beings, Sasami started to sprint down the steps once more, even more determined to make it to the house quickly.

As she reached the end of them, she checked the shivering kitten, who had snuggled into Sasami's right arm. Ryo-ohki had jumped out of Sasami's grasp, and made a mad dash for and through the door, reaching the other side on the second try (as usual, she had bumped her head on the door trying to phase through).

"M-me-ew..." Sasami looked at the kitten, who she had sworn just chuckled at the other catlike being. But all the princess saw was the cold, wet bundle of shivering fur in her arms.

The princess shook her head, took up her run again, and the as she reached the door, it was opened by her sister. The soaked Sasami walked in, and placed the pictures on the floor, forgetting about them temporarily.

"Sasami, what-oh my, what is that you have there?" The elder princess inquired. "A kitten? It looks cold. Bring it into the bathroom, we can warm it up there." Sasami followed obediently, her sister taking charge.

Once inside, Ayeka pulled out a clean, dry towel, and took the kitten from Sasami, wrapping it gently in the towel. She then walked out of the bathroom to make sure the heat was on in the house, and ordered Sasami to bring the bundle into the living room. The younger princess, holding the kitten-in-a-towel close to her, while Ayeka went into the kitchen.

Inside the room that normally housed the other princess, Ayeka smiled to herself. Before Sasami was born, she was alone quite often, as the Yosho of that age would be busy with sword lessons and political lectures, leaving Ayeka all alone in the castle. She remembered when she would find small animals around the palace grounds, generally no bigger than the cat that was just brought in, and would play with or care for them. The palace staff thought it was adorable, and taught her everything she needed to know about caring for small, generally woodland or grassland mammals, some similar to the kitten that had so suddenly been brought into the extended Masaki family care. However, when Ayeka grew older, she began her intensive royal studies, and had no time for fostering sick animals, and her adorable little hobby ended.

"Let's see...I remember reading an article in the newspaper about caring for kittens, and they cannot drink cow's milk. However, eggs are okay, and maybe..." Ayeka muttered to herself as she gathered kitten-friendly foods. Mixing up a formula as she took out a long forgotten baby bottle from Taro's visit, she glanced back to the family room. Sasami was drying out the kitten's wet fur, and talking to it softly. Ayeka grinned a little as she brought out the baby bottle, along with a bowl of water and some food that would be compatible with the cat's digestive system.

"...And then Mihoshi crashed down her ship into the water! The wave was so big, and Tenchi was able to still stand after it went down over him and Seiryo. But Seiryo was just floating around in the water with this goofy...oh, hi Ayeka!" Sasami smiled, turning her head to her sister. "I was just telling her about when Tenchi and Seiryo fought, and how funny it was!"

Ayeka giggled softly, and then looked at her sister with a hint of confusion. "Sasami, did you say...her?"

"Yeah! I asked Ryo-ohki if she was a girl, and she nodded." Ryo-ohki mewed in agreement.

"How cute." Ayeka patted Ryo-ohki, and then focused her attention on the tray she had set down on the table. "Now, I have this," Her hand gestured to the bottle. "For the kitten to drink. I made sure it wouldn't hurt her." Ayeka picked it up, and held it to the kitten's mouth. After sniffing it a few times, the kitten started to sip at the milk inside.

"Wow! What'cha got there?" Ayeka and Sasami turned their heads to see Mihoshi, who had just come in with a framed picture of Ryoko, her intent to put it in the growing (and forgotten, partly) memorial. Absentmindedly placing it in the alcove, she walked over to where the others were to look at what the princesses were fussing over. "Aw...that's so cute! What is it, a kitten?"

"Uh-huh!" Sasami smiled, patting the kitten, who was still gulping down the milk, on her drying fur. "Ayeka, what are we going to name her? Because we can't have a kitty without a name!"

"Did you find her in the rain? Because Ame, 'rain', is pretty." Mihoshi mused, peering out the window to the downpour.

Ayeka nodded. "Ame it is then." Ame paused in her sucking of the bottle to meow.

**Author's note: Um, sorry for the fact that I haven't updated in awhile. There isn't really much of an excuse for this one, since I think I have the first three chapters written already. I just need to proofread and upload them. So yeah. I hope you enjoyed this! I'll try to get Chapter 3 up earlier! Really!**

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! does not belong to me. It belongs to Masaki Kajishima.


	3. The Letter

Chapter 3-The Letter

_I'm cold...so cold...why can't I just go some place warm! The rain is so cold...so cold...and…wet._

_What was that? A sound? It sounded just like...somebody running down steps! Argh! The water's getting in my eyes!_

_"Hello?"_

_"Huh? I-is anybody there?"_

_"Sasami?" A gasp! From Sasami! Sasami! I'm over here!_

_"Oh no! It could be sick!" Wait-is she picking me up? But I'm twice as big as she is! Doesn't she recognize me?_

_I can barely see through this stupid, stupid rain! I think I'm in Sasami's arms, along with Ryo-ohki, and...pictures of me. They're getting ruined, you know. The water's seeping in to the frames. But, why would she have pictures of me? Let's try to remember._

_I was in Washu's lab. Got shocked by lots of sparking stuff. Electricity. Man, I really can't think today. So, then it hurt, I fell down, Washu was holding me...don't remember a thing after that. Nothing. I just woke up here, and tiny..._

Whump!

"Oh no! I dropped the chair again! This thing's too heavy and-oh," Mihoshi stopped her excuses to pause, looking down at the new household member. "Sorry, Ame!"

"Meow!" She looked back up at Mihoshi, who was moving a chair from Nobuyuki's office to the kitchen to help Sasami.

"Sorry I woke you up, kitty. You're so cute!" Mihoshi, placing the chair on the floor where she was, stroked the kitten on her head. "Maybe you should go play with Ryo-ohki or something."

_Or at least get out of your way. Somehow, a huge chair being dropped on my head wouldn't be the best thing in the world for me. Argh! I HATE being so small! Why am I so small?_ The kitten growled slightly, and started to prance over to the stairs, pausing at the bottom of the flight. _Now, if I wasn't a stupid little kitten, I could fly. Why am I a cat? This is so confusing!_

The cat shook her head, and then started the process of going up the stairs. This involved hurling herself into the air to barely land on the next step, pausing for breath, and repeating. Sometimes it included hanging on the edge of a level for dear life, and scrambling up onto the step via claws. But after awhile, the long and hard work paid off, as she sat proudly at the top of the stairs, panting slightly.

"Oh, hello." The cat made a slight trilling sound, as a soft voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Her furry head turned around to peer up into the face of the elder princess of the household. Ayeka smiled, and the kitten narrowed her eyes. The princess' eyes were not just red in the irises-they were red where they should be white.

_Ayeka's been...crying? Wha...?_ Thought the smaller of the two, walking over to sniff the princess. _I guess the overpowering sense of smell's handy about being a cat-I can tell she was crying recently._

"You're pretty cute." A soft stroke of Ayeka's fingers on her head caused the kitten to look up. "Even though rain is stereotypically sad, you seem to make us happier. Come little one, I shall tell you about Ryoko."

_What? Why are you going to tell me about-what the? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!_ If the kitten had vocal cords with the ability of the Japanese language, she would have screamed at the top of her lungs. However, she could only meow and push away, but the princess didn't notice as she scooped the kitten up and brought her into the room she, Sasami, and Mihoshi shared. Placing her on a futon, the kitten prepared to dash out of the room, if it wasn't for Ayeka's actions that caught her attention. _You know, she's acting kind of funny..._

The violet-haired young woman was opening up a letter that was partially written, the current words covering over half a page in neat, perfect calligraphy. A few spots were smeared from small water droplets that had fallen as the writer put her words on the page. Ayeka had obviously been crying as she wrote the letter, but why? Thoughts like these swirled around in the feline's mind as she crept up to the Juraian, mewing her inquiries.

"Oh, Ame, I wish you could have met her. I wish she was still here. Our house has fallen apart, just like my old one did on planet Jurai-oh, I should tell you about that, but it isn't really important. This always happens when somebody leaves forever. That time it was Yosho, my older half-brother, but this time it was Ryoko. I honestly didn't think I would miss her this much, but you are never really prepared to say good-bye permanently to anybody," Ayeka explained, stroking her one-cat audience on their head.

"Mreow?" The kitten sniffed the paper, and climbed into Ayeka's lap to get a better look at it. Unfortunately, it was written in the traditional Juraian alphabet, and she was unable to decipher any of the symbols written by the princess on the paper.

"Oh, this?" Ayeka's free hand gestured towards the paper. "This is a letter...to Ryoko. She's been gone from us for four days now-you came yesterday, just after she-" Ayeka's voice stopped, and the kitten felt a small droplet of water hit her small, fur-covered body. "Well, maybe we shouldn't talk about it. But we've made a memorial, and that took away some of the pain of losing a family member. Even though we hated each other, it was more of the hate you see between sisters of a close age. I mean, she really was sort of like a sister. We probably could have been best friends if it wasn't for Tenchi. We both loved him so much, and that sparked every battle between us. But I'm growing off topic again, aren't I, Ame?" The princess paused to giggle slightly at the kitten, who had started to swat at her yukata-type dress' sleeve. "Anyway, after we built the memorial to her, I needed something to do. Whenever I needed somebody to talk to, I realize now that I would always talk, or rather, argue, with Ryoko. Now she's gone. I always believed that Tsunami watched over souls as they drifted away from life, so at least they wouldn't be lonely as they..." The princess choked up, and it appeared as though she was trying as hard as she could not to burst into torrents of tears.

The kitten meowed, rubbing Ayeka's finger with her cheek.

"Tsunami is Jurai's goddess. She also is partly my younger sister, but that is another story for another time. But now, when I want to talk to Ryoko, I write to her. I think I'll put the completed letters to her in the memorial. I think that she'd want to know from a serious rival to Tenchi's affections what happens in her family." Ayeka finished, studying her companion. The yellow-green eyes of the cat were fixated on the paper with a hint of confusion.

"Meow..."

"Would you like me to read it to you? You never knew her, and it might make me feel better to say it out loud, though I haven't really finished. It's hard to write a letter to a deceased person in one sitting." Ayeka paused to wipe her eyes, and the kitten understood what she meant. "Very well, I shall begin.

"Dear Ryoko. Hello, this is Jurai Ayeka. If you truly are reading or hearing this, I'll wager you weren't expecting to hear from me. Well, I need to tell you that I couldn't believe that you died. I hope it wasn't too painful, but by the looks of it, it was. All of your hair fell off, did you know? I'm sorry I'm being so disrespectful about it, I really am sorry, but it was slightly humorous, in some terms. I mean, if your hair fell off in Miss Washu's lab and you lived, I doubt she'd ever hear the end of it. You always were so proud of your looks, in the best manner of speaking.

"I hope you know that we all miss you. We held a funeral for you, and everybody cried. Sasami could barely see for a while, her eyes were so wet. Mihoshi and I cried too, but I think she and Sasami could hold an award for loudest wailing. The three of us made a memorial for you a couple of days ago, we just missed you so much. I think Tenchi would have helped, but he was busy with schoolwork. How awful to have a death during a week of long midterm tests. Speaking of Tenchi, you will be pleased to know he has made no romantic advances to anybody since your passing. He's spent some time praying at your grave, and helping us all cope. It really isn't that much different from when you were here with us.

"Something I think you should know is that Ryo-ohki has matured since you left us. She is not in her young human-like form as much as she used to be, choosing to remain in her original form. Not the spaceship, but the animal one. I think she is sad, but knows you well enough to know you wouldn't want us to drown in our sorrow. Every morning she visits the memorial, sitting in front of it with her eyes shut. I think she prays for you, Ryoko. You are rather lucky to have somebody like that.

"Leaving the topic of Ryo-ohki, I think I should tell you about Miss Washu. I know this is a tender subject for you, as your relationship with her has not always been smooth, but it is important. You died in her arms; your last moments were with her. Maybe that was as it should be. I don't mean to be rude, but you didn't treat her with very much respect, though I think sometimes she might have deserved it. Again, I know it is rude of me to comment on something I shouldn't be intruding on, but you do need to know this. Miss Washu has changed drastically for the worse since you left us. She is no longer a vibrant and teasing individual, but a bleak person living slightly out of reality. Her breath chokes on her sorrow, she almost never talks to us or has eye contact with any one of us, and chooses to remain secluded as much as she can. Ryoko, by seeing this, I think you were wrong. Miss Washu really does care for you. She wanted to be your mother this badly."

The animal companion looked up at the princess' face. "Mreow?" Ayeka chuckled, and scratched the kitten's chin.

"I haven't written anymore. But I suppose I'll have to tell her about you. She would have probably liked you, as we all do. Let's see now..." Ayeka picked up her pen, and started to add more to her letter to the deceased woman.

"On a lighter note, a little while ago, Sasami found a kitten in the rain. We gave her food, dried her off, and are letting her stay with us. Mihoshi even suggested her name, Ame, because of the downpour Sasami found her in. It was actually you who brought her to us. Sasami went to see my elder brother to ask for some pictures of you for your memorial," Ayeka paused to wipe her eyes, then continued to write and dictate out loud. "And when she was walking back to the house, she discovered Ame. Ame has been a wonderful addition to our family, and she helps us find joy once more. However, Washu, Tenchi, and his father have yet to meet her. Even though she's been with us for a day, Tenchi had to stay in town with his father for testing, and his father had to stay in town because of work. Miss Washu won't come out of her lab, as she is still mourning your passing. I hope they will meet Ame soon, because I think she will lift their spirits as she has Sasami's, Ryo-ohki's, Mihoshi's, and mine. I think that even my older half-brother became happier when he saw our new kitten." Ayeka put her pen down, and looked at the kitten. "How does that sound?"

"Mew!" The kitten replied. Ayeka took that as a positive "mew", and put the pen back to the paper to finish the letter.

"So, Miss Ryoko, I hope where you are is a lovely place. I know that you feel you did wrong in your life, but remember that nothing was truly your fault. Except for pulling down my towel in front of Tenchi. That is still all your fault." Ayeka giggled, and made a little angry face design on the paper. Glancing down at her friend, she pointed to it. "I really don't think she would appreciate it much if I didn't throw in something for her to laugh at. Anyway, to continue it.

"We all wish you had stayed with us for longer, including me. I also wish that you could have met Ame, because she is such a wonderful addition to our family. We all miss you very much, Ryoko. Life truly is not the same without you. Sincerely yours..." Ayeka trailed off, putting the pen to her lips in thought. "Should I put my title or not?"

"Mreow!"

Ayeka chuckled. "You're right, she never called me by it. So...Jurai Ayeka. There, it's finished." Ayeka sealed up the letter, and sighed, getting up to put it on the memorial.

The kitten paused, looking confused as she watched the princess exit the room and start descending the staircase. _But-but _I'm_ Ryoko! Argh...whoever made me a cat is so, so dead when I get through with them!_ She thought, growling to the unknown fates that made her a different species.

Author's Note: Well, this concludes the chapters that I've already written. Now I have to get to writing the next chapter…no more freebies for me! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As for the rest of Once More, I'm not sure how long this will be. I also have to make sure it is different enough from the next Tenchi Muyo! piece I'll be doing…they're all starting to look the same now…

**Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! does not belong to me. It belongs to Masaki Kajishima.**


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